Re: Sentence structure is back bone in business writing, how much effective it is?

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:00:38 GMT

Its very true and I totally agree with you. Think for a while that why resumes and cover letter writing is considered very effective for getting a job. What do you think why in all institutions all over the world teach their business level students subject of âBusiness communicationâ? The reason is that even to get a business deal you must known how to impress the other party through your expression and that usually includes both writing and speaking skills. Now suppose if you write an application letter to a multinational company and you do not take care of the exclamatory marks or the grammar rules or any lingual rule, do you think that you will be able to give string impression? No not at all. Thatâs why it is very true sentence structure is the backbone of business writing.

Re: Answer these please

Tam Sadek — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 02:01:17 GMT

Mister Micawber wrote:

On the contrary, it is etc which is limited in use:

'Et cetera', a Latin phrase, appears in English writing most frequently in its abbreviated form, 'etc.' This phrase is used frequently in technical and business writing, somewhat less frequently in general informal writing, and sometimes in literary or formal writing. Expressions such as 'and so forth' and 'and so on' are useful substitutes.

Whenever we answer a question about English we have to decide upon a context as our starting point. I assumed, because of his first example including the term 'meeting', that he had already chosen a business context. Now we are looking for appropriacy.

As for the use of 'and so forth' and 'and so on' being less appropriate in a business context; you kind of answered it yourself, using a somewhat prescriptive quotation. For if 'etc.' is used frequently in business writing' then, ipso facto, the alternatives you suggested presumably are not.

As for being overly prescriptive, when it comes to a very restricted formulaic register such as business (English), which let's be honest is the main reason people learn English; then I believe there is a very strong need for a global agreement on usage as international communication between non-native english-speaking business people must not be made more ambiguous, or lead to misinterpretation, due to one of them suddenly deciding to turn a business communication into a would be Booker Prize nominee.

The choice here is one of style and appropriacy rather than possibilty. In business; less, often, is more. Sad, but true.

Then again the essence of a forum such as this denotes a form of prescriptiveness in itself anyway, doesn't it?

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Re: Sentence structure is back bone in business writing, how much effective it is?

Re: Answer these please